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True inflation is the reported rate plus the natural price decline from innovation that citizens never see. Governments print money to consume this productivity gain, creating a hidden tax that is far higher than official figures suggest, as all goods should naturally get cheaper over time.

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When governments print money to cover deficits, they devalue currency, effectively imposing a hidden tax on citizens. The only protection is owning assets like stocks, real estate, or businesses whose value rises with inflation. Since 90% of Americans lack significant assets, they are most exposed to this wealth erosion.

Technological innovation should naturally cause deflation (falling prices). The Fed's 2% inflation target requires printing enough money to first counteract all technological deflation and then add 2% on top, making the true inflationary effect much larger than officially stated.

It's misleading to cite a single inflation number. There's massive deflation in globally competitive sectors like electronics (touched by China and the internet). Simultaneously, hyperinflation exists in state-regulated, protected domestic sectors like US education, healthcare, and housing.

While innovations like AI are disinflationary in a vacuum, history shows this effect is consistently overwhelmed by expansionary monetary policy. For over 200 years, central banks have created 'man-made' inflation, meaning investors shouldn't count on technology alone to keep prices stable.

While technology creates efficiencies and drives down the cost of specific goods, it cannot overcome persistent money creation by central banks. Since abandoning the gold standard, overall price levels have consistently risen despite massive technological leaps. AI will likely follow this pattern.

Despite official CPI averaging under 2% from 2010-2020, the actual cost of major assets like homes and stocks exploded. This disconnect shows that government inflation data fails to reflect the reality of eroding purchasing power, which is a key driver of public frustration.

The inherent complexity of economics serves as a shield, preventing the public from understanding that government debt and money printing directly devalue their savings. This functions as a hidden, non-legislated tax on anyone holding the currency.

The Federal Reserve's ability to print money is a direct mechanism to take value from every citizen without legislation. It is mathematically equivalent to government-sanctioned counterfeiting, devaluing currency and transferring wealth from the populace to the government, acting as a tax.

The word "inflation" is a deliberately implanted euphemism that makes monetary debasement sound like positive growth. The reality is that money is depreciating and its purchasing power is being stolen. Reframing it as "monetary depreciation" reveals the true, negative nature of the process and shifts public perception from a necessary evil to outright theft.

The original definition of inflation is an expansion of the money supply. By shifting the definition to mean rising prices (a consequence), governments can deflect blame for inflation onto businesses, unions, or foreign events, rather than their own money-printing policies.